Amy Li: Getting lost in the autumn of Cape Breton

SUBMITTED PHOTO - This is the autumn view from Kelly’s Mountain, a spectacular sight on a cool fall day.

Autumn is a season full of farmers’ smiling faces and fruit-covered trees, the dancing leaves and the cool crisp air.

When autumn meets Celtic colours, it turns into the delicious turkey on a dinner table, the orange-yellow pumpkin in a courtyard, the red magic maple tree in front of my dormitory’s window, and all the burning colors of Cabot Trail.

But I do not want to repeat the beautifulness of Cape Breton’s autumn. You know better than I do. All I want to share with you is the personal experience I had here.

Can you imagine how hard it is to be an international student? Especially when the weather is getting cold. Not only study is a problem but what to eat, where to live in, how to take a bus and even life itself … are all questions to me. Even worse, I must face the music myself. The chilly rain on Oct. 21 made me think this is the coldest winter for me already. I dwell upon Rainer Maria Rilke’s famous poem Autumn Day (Translated by William Gass):

“Whoever has no house now will establish none,

whoever lives alone now will live on long alone”

However, the self-pitying awareness does not help. Is this an autumn without harvest to me? How can I endure to the end? Alas …

The six small maple trees, which standing in the parking lot in front of my window, seemed to understand my heart well. They are trying their best to comfort me with the wonderful blazing red. They put the fire into my heart, and encourage me to find the beauty of autumn here, furthermore, to find myself.

I remember my teacher Tony Hajjar told us that he used to sit under a big tree in Wentworth Park and enjoy a relaxed Saturday afternoon. So I decided to follow his steps, find the best place to enjoy myself, and get a real touch of the autumn here.

I tripped lightly into the bus to downtown. I realized it on my way that there is no need to take the long trip to Cabot Trail. Yes, I can see all the reds, oranges, yellows and greens of maples, poplars, birches and pine trees “crazily showing off” on both sides of the highway.

Different-styled houses shaded in those trees quietly. I am curious about the people living there. I want to join them so that I can embrace the amazing environment.

Walking with my chest out and my chin up, taking deep breaths and feeling twice as alive as the moment before. I went to the port. The water was calm, shimmering under the warm sun. The clouds were moving restlessly. I saw people go jogging or walking along the beach. When they greeted each other, I thought I heard Louis Armstrong singing “What a wonderful world.”

I looked up into the sky with my eyes half closed, the bright blue and the cloud blocked sun glowed into my heart.

Then I read the message about her favourite season, autumn, from my friend Shelley Peters-Locke, a Cape Bretoner from New Waterford, now living in Alberta. She told me she just loves the colors of the leaves and walking in them, listening to them crunch on the ground. What a good suggestion! How can I say I have experienced the autumn without crunching leaves underfoot? Though there are not many fallen leaves for me to crunch on the streets, I was lucky that a kind of nut hit my head during my walk on Charlotte Street.

Jenna Ekatharina, my little friend, once showed me the way not only to the cinema, but also to our friendship. She told me her favorite part is Halloween. No wonder, I have already seen so many yards been decorated into the scary haunted houses all along the streets. I think the enthusiasm of the autumn fans will be heightened by the climax of the Halloween.

Finally, I arrived at Wentworth Park. I went to the café pretending I was J. K. Rowling in her hard times. I sat on the bench to see the ducks take their baths. I lay down on the lawn to listen to the happy laughters of children. I walked along the pound to exam the curves on the surface of the water which told us the autumn wind just passing by. I saw that little puppy jump and trot happily. His enthusiasm put the sparkle in people’s eyes, the lilt in our steps and smoothed the wrinkles from my soul.

Back to the dining hall on campus that evening, I ate a bowl of rice made by Denis. She cooked the rice like mother’s way. It comforts me. Then I recalled the whole day’s experience and thought about all these kind people around me. Suddenly I figured out, being lost is also a new beginning of seeking. Because we Chinese always say autumn is a season of harvest, then everything will be well kept in the cold days and wait to start its life again.

Amy Li is a native of Beijing, China. She is studying Pre-MBA courses in ICEAP on the Cape Breton University Campus. Her column will appear monthly during which she hopes to share with readers stories about China and also comment on the people, places and customs she discovers during her stay in Cape Breton.